Are you looking for a action-filled revenge plot movie? Where the everyday man stands up and saves the day? Then you should check out our Conner’s Critique of Novocaine.
As always, we break down our reviews by story, acting, and overall. So let’s jump on into it!
Story 7/10
The story picks up with Nate, a mild manered bank teller who suffers from CIPA. His disease is horrible as it does not allow a person to feel any sensation including pain or resistance upon their body. Nate Caine the main character, was diagnosed with us at a very young age and as a direct result, his parents freaked out and sheltered him for most of his youth, preventing him from eating solid foods and keeping him on a rigid schedule to make sure that his bladder doesn’t get too full and that he could ever possibly be harmed.
This phobia specifically led to him becoming an expert on first aid, because he would regularly hurt himself and not realize it, forcing him to have to patch himself up. This will become imported later.
As he goes through his life, we sees all the efforts he takes to keep himself safe. We are then introduced to a woman at his work, a Teller named Sherry, who he is infatuated with. They both seemingly take a chance on each other one day and our main character catches feelings incredibly strong.
Things take a horrible turn, however, when bank robbers attack their bank before people’s Christmas bonuses are delivered around town stealing a substantial amount of money from the bank. When the robbers take the Sherry hostage to keep themselves safe from the police, Nate rushes off to save the day.
While he is not a very aggressive person, his recent infatuation with Sherry and the fear that he would lose her pushes him, a regularly sheltered person who hasn’t had any feelings like this before, to do insane things as he makes his way through the city of San Diego trying to save Sherry. He suffers untold injuries, damage, and self-mutilation to keep one step ahead of the bank robbers as he tracks down their locations.
This is all made more interesting by the fact that the police do not believe that Nate is innocent, and think he was in on the job and what really is happening is a squabble between greedy robbers.
Acting 9/10
There are four major character roles in this film. The first of course is Nate Caine played by Jack Quaid. He has mastered the everyday guy dork energy of this role. Him being helpful and apologetic to the people as he murders them is probably one of my favorite things about this film. Giving them tips of how to treat injuries that he gave them makes me laugh out loud.
Sherry played by Amber Midthunder feels a little bit like a manic pixie dream girl. While the turn was predictable, I feel like in the end with her character rushing to save Nate ends up making her feel like a much more well-rounded character, rather than just a damsel in distress.
Roscoe, played by Jacob Batalon, was a really annoying character but Jacob plays him with such earnest and charm that it makes you not only able to tolerate how annoying the character is, but makes you wish he was in the movie just a little bit more.
Last but not least, is Coltraine played by Matt Walsh. While his role is not a major one in the film, getting very little screen time, every single second he is on screen he is a goddamn dream and it makes me laugh so hard with his nonchalant “I don’t want to be here,” attitude.
Well, the main fill does not make my top four characters. I really liked in the film, blank. Does a pretty good job playing a character that you want to see get his comeuppance.
Overall 9/10
Films like Payback, Nobody, and A History of Violence have the same kind of feel and energy in them, for a revenge film, dealing specifically with the condition of CIPA creates a very interesting and unique take on the violence that fills the film.
It’s really interesting to see Nate take so much damage without any actual reaction, and watching the villains and antagonist get frustrated at the fact that Nate doesn’t feel pain was a nice touch in the story.
It’s important to note that CIPA is an actual condition though, and is a very serious condition leading to self-injuries and early death of anyone that has the condition. I did feel a little bit frustrated by Sherry’s not taking Nate’s conditions seriously when they first meet. It is a little bit weird to treat the condition like a superhero power, and might cause some frustration in the people who are suffering from the condition.
Conner’s Final Thoughts
This is a fun film which a lot of great moments and an incredibly easy watch. There are elements of rom-com, gore-driven violence, and wacky over the top comedy and humor. A perfect date movie as long as you’ve got a strong enough stomach.
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